There are many instances in which there is a need to apply a label of one type or another to a series of like artifacts. For example, there is a recurring need to apply to each of a large number of duplicately recorded cassettes identical labels giving information about the recorded contents.
One state-of-the art machine heretofore developed for that purpose is the Model L-2S Pin Feed Automatic Cassette Labeler marketed by Investment Technology, Inc., Bellevue, Wash.
The L-2S labeler has a number of important attributes. It is durable and reliable; capable of applying labels accurately and consistently; able to handle labels made of a wide variety of materials including paper, plastic, and foil; and easy to operate.
Nevertheless, the L-2S labeler has a number of significant disadvantages. It is heavy and relatively complex and expensive, employing as it does a vacuum system for gripping labels separated from their backing and for subsequently applying those labels to the artifacts being labeled.
Also, the L-2S labeler is less versatile than is desirable in many instances such as those involving a job-shop type of operation with comparatively short runs and succeeding runs of artifacts of different sizes and shapes or in different orientations and/or labels of different shapes and sizes. This is because the L-2S labeler is not equipped to handle artifacts of different sizes or in differing orientations; and it is, similarly, designed to accept label feedstock of only one size. Furthermore, the L-2S labeler can currently be used only to apply labels to audio cassettes as the label indexing mechanism of that apparatus is designed to advance a perforation which only fits audio cassette labels.